The desirability of having jewelry articles, such as rings, pendants, earrings, bracelets, or broaches, with interchangeable settings has long been evident in the art. Being interchangeable, the setting can be matched to other articles of jewelry, clothing, or accessories. In my co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/982,662, entitled “Decorative Articles with Interchangeable Settings,” I disclose interchangeable modules, which attach to decorative articles using mechanical structures. In the present application, however, jewelry articles having magnetic elements are disclosed. In one aspect of the present invention, the magnetic elements are used to magnetically couple portions of the jewelry article together to hold an interchangeable setting. In another aspect of the present invention, the magnetic elements are used to magnetically suspend a movable setting on a jewelry article.
Jewelry articles having magnets are disclosed in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,059,971; 4,195,492; 4,424,689; 4,912,944; 4,982,581; 5,193,360; 5,283,966; 5,806,346; 6,101,843; and 6,305,192 and U.S. Patent Application Publications 2001/0052245 and 2002/0073732 disclose articles of jewelry having magnets.
In one example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,608 to Berkowitz discloses a jewelry device having a setting member and a pair of hoops. The setting member has first and second display objects in opposite facing directions. The pair of hoops is pivotably connected to the setting member. The hoops can be rotated in opposite directions above and below the setting member to either display the first or second objects. When lying adjacent one another, the hoops are held together by a magnets at the bottom of the hoops. The setting is permanently and pivotally connected to the hoops. The hinged connections between the hoops and the setting member are difficult to manufacture and difficult to disguise on the jewelry article, which decreases the aesthetic value. In addition, the setting member can hold only two display objects, which limits the use of the jewelry article with other decorative articles.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,864 to Hofsaess discloses a jewelry article having a perpendicular mounting stem. A pendulum member is rotatable on the stem and has at least one pair of oppositely disposed magnets radially mounted thereto. A platform having various decorative elements is disposed above the pendulum and is freely rotatable about the mounting stem. The platform also includes a pair of magnets, which are radially aligned with the magnets of the pendulum. The identical magnetic pole of each pair of magnets and is juxtaposed, one above the other, causing a repulsing rotational action therebetween. To achieve the rotation, the platform and pendulum require complex bearing structures on the mounting stem.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.